Cities of Sigmar: Unhappy about news updates

[Matador]

34 minutes ago, Overread said:

Thing is GW kinda has 20 years experience of doing just that before the last 4 or 5 years. 

 

Been playing since 92 mate, and tracking the release and announcement patterns for last 4 years. In fact I would not have made the jump to (and large investment into ) AoS if I hadn't seen that GW had adopted better practices and standards with product development, release, and customer service the way they did a few years ago. 

That's why I'm on this, I didn't post are raise a hew'and holla about Sylvaneth seeing it as an aberration, but with the CoS and Ork battletome distaste we are seeing a new pattern being tested that needs to be rejected before it becomes the accepted practice by GW. 

[Overread]

I don't think there's much of a pattern though. There's only two more Battletomes for AoS for armies which don't have one (and Ogres technically has half the army with a battletome from earlier - the Beastclaw raiders). So even if it is a pattern GW only has 2 more Tomes to try it out on. So even if this is the start of a new AoS 2.0 pattern there's only two armies to go before that pattern would be totally over and done with. 

[Matador]

23 minutes ago, Overread said:

I think GW know. The real trick is getting them to change policy and that's hard because we don't know the background reasons for the current policy and situation. We could be screaming at the front lines (Community support) and yet they might be well in the know and pushing internally for just the changes we want. Ergo they end up stuck in a spot between a rock and a shouting mob of insane fans. 

It's made harder because GW see the actual global sales whilst we only hear the noise from the noisy active online community which is many times smaller than the "real world" one. 

Customers can make their displeasure known on all fronts and should. And you are fooling yourself if you think that GW disregards the online comments and posts, movements. They are in fact now wedded to the online community as they used it to drive revenue and new releases, new products. Other than white dwarf and dealer outreach it is their only advertisement theater, GW's future business plans depend solely upon it, so you can be certain that several heads watch online quite closely (looking at you Nigel). 

[Matador]

3 minutes ago, Overread said:

I don't think there's much of a pattern though. There's only two more Battletomes for AoS for armies which don't have one (and Ogres technically has half the army with a battletome from earlier - the Beastclaw raiders). So even if it is a pattern GW only has 2 more Tomes to try it out on. So even if this is the start of a new AoS 2.0 pattern there's only two armies to go before that pattern would be totally over and done with. 

No. If they think they can get it by their customers It may become the future pattern for all releases and info management of existing products as opposed to the relatively responsible manner in which they handled the content up until this year. 

See a pattern that is good: reward the company with purchase and loyalty

See a pattern that is bad: inform the company of your displeasure 

[Sleboda]

50 minutes ago, Matador said:

concerned about the new tactic to announce preview followed by model cull followed by months of silence

FWIW, based on info I have this is not a new tactic, just a genuine "well, crud, this didn't go as planned."

I think The New GW (tm) has earned some goodwill.

[Matador]

Just now, Sleboda said:

FWIW, based on info I have this is not a new tactic, just a genuine "well, crud, this didn't go as planned."

I think The New GW (tm) has earned some goodwill.

I appreciate that. The problem is that whether it was a planned tactic or a mistake in production it is a repetition of the Sylvaneth distaste and risks setting a new pattern if GW doesn't see the problem from their customers. 

And I for one do not relish seeing this done for future products as a customer. 

By informing GW or our displeasure we are giving them a genuine gesture of goodwill giving them a chance to fix the problems rather then silently ceasing to buy the products. Get it? 

[Matador]

Hey! who changed the title of my thread dang it!

Come on Gaz!!!   lol

Edited September 18, 2019 by Matador

[Overread]

I don't think you have to tell people to air their displeasure - geeks are pretty good at that online as it is

There's just no organised campaign of attrition or complaint because it wouldn't really go anywhere and, asides, most have aired their concerns already. I'm sure GW doesn't relish the sudden likely drop off of product sales from those armies as gamers wiat for the release; nor the complaints that creep into other news releases and such. 

Heck the whole thing isn't setting Bonereapers up well since all the hype about them is muted until the Cities and Orruks gets out. Don't forget we've not had any official news since the Nova for Bonereapers either; in fact the only news we did get was after someone leaked a load of photos; otherwise we'd still not likely have seen ANYTHING on them until next month. 

[Thiagoma]

17 minutes ago, Matador said:

Hey! who changed the title of my thread dang it!

Come on Gaz!!!   lol

The only thing i am happy about this CoS fiasco is the mod trolling 🤣

[Chikout]

At this point I am willing to bet that we will see cities and/or warclans after beastgrave. Gw just said that they will share more news about the marines in October and the next phoenix rises preview is on Monday ( not Sunday) That leaves the next AOS book to go up on preorder on September 28th unless gw gives us some new glue or something.

[Chikout]

1 hour ago, Matador said:

I appreciate that. The problem is that whether it was a planned tactic or a mistake in production it is a repetition of the Sylvaneth distaste and risks setting a new pattern if GW doesn't see the problem from their customers. 

And I for one do not relish seeing this done for future products as a customer. 

By informing GW or our displeasure we are giving them a genuine gesture of goodwill giving them a chance to fix the problems rather then silently ceasing to buy the products. Get it? 

By the way, have you emailed gw or sent a DM to Pete Foley on twitter? Both of those methods would be more effective than posting on here.

[Thiagoma]

Tittle suggestion

Cities of Sigmar: Free Peoples boogaloo

[Thiagoma]

13 minutes ago, Chikout said:

By the way, have you emailed gw or sent a DM to Pete Foley on twitter? Both of those methods would be more effective than posting on here.

Sent the email twice. Of course no response other than "we are sorry you feel that way". The second info is that theygot no information about the removed models possible return.

 

Would love to have a chat with the writters about the cuts, altho i know it is pretty much impossible.

In the specific case of the High Elves, if they had kept 4 of the 10 (still produced before the culling) models, the army would be really well preserved. (Would save Draconis/EC).

Just that, 4 models. (Dragon, Archmage,Dragon Blades and Noble).

[Zanzou]

4 hours ago, Overread said:

The most likely metric GW will listen too is the sales ratings once the Tome does go on sale. They can anticipate slow sales now after the panic and disgruntlement; but in general its the sales once it launches that will speak far stronger to them. 

The only concern about that is- would corporate GW actually understand why people didn't buy in if sales flop, that the blame is on themselves?  Or would they just wrongly assume that it's because "mortals and old world" things don't sell?  I don't think that corporate GW is as connected with the designers and community as we might hope...

[Mcprowlington]

5 hours ago, Matador said:

Actually it's not mate. Have tracked last 4 years, the only comparable instance is the Sylvaneth disaster this year, which is why it's important to nip this pattern in the bud if it's the idea of some clever young lad GW hired in February (looking at you Nigel). 

So rather than see my call to arms as a venting/whine see it as a what it was intended a call to let GW know it's not acceptable practice to their customers. 

No, there are several comparable instances. For example, with 90% of the 40k codexes in 8th, which were teased 2-3 at a time, and then dropped in a random order as far as several months out. 

the 40k codexes, which were received alone without endless spell or terrain support, were far more similar to these two new battletomes than any other aos release. It makes sense they would be handled the same way. 

The only thing this is going to show GW is to stop revealing things far in advance. Of which, doing so was probably a response to the countless people complaining that GW needs to work harder to communicate upcoming release schedules. The only clear communication to a business is with apathy. If you're mad that the product is not in your hands yet (Which is all this is, if you're mad that you haven't gotten enough information about a product that's sole purpose is to give information) that is a good sign to them. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Mcprowlington

[Zanzou]

1 hour ago, Mcprowlington said:

The only thing this is going to show GW is to stop revealing things far in advance. Of which, doing so was probably a response to the countless people complaining that GW needs to work harder to communicate upcoming release schedules. 

To be fair, a reveal does not really communicate any sort of release schedule. 

(Not that this is personally my issue with GW.  If I could actually trust them for product support, I wouldn't feel like I would need long forewarnings)

Edited September 19, 2019 by Zanzou

[Gaz Taylor]

+++ Mod Hat On +++

Okay, I’m going to lock this topic now. I think people have had their say or the discussion they needed. At the end of the day, TGA is about having fun and enjoying playing Age of Sigmar. I understand that people need to vent but topics like this are generally quite negative and just create a bad atmosphere. 

Could GW have done things better between now and the first announcement of the book? Probably. But then they didn’t have to announce anything. I’m sure they will have taken on board any feedback about it (they do look at this forum) and you can also mention things like this in the next survey, email GW, or attend an open day.